Kanbei Kuroda/ Role in Games
Role in Games Samurai Warriors Kanbei is one of Hideyoshi's generals who follows him in many of his campaigns. In Samurai Warriors 2, Kanbei arrives with an engineer team during the western siege of Odawara Castle. If he is safely escorted to the makeshift castle in the middle of the map, the foundations for the castle can be built at a quicker rate. He will also serve in Hideyoshi's army during the conquest of Kyushu and, in Hanzo and Kotaro's story mode, he will defend Osaka Castle. The Xtreme Legends expansion has Kanbei serving the Oda and Toyotomi armies as reinforcements at Shikoku. He starts as one of the two talented strategists at Nagashino in Samurai Warriors 3. He is responsible for ensuring the enemy's complete elimination while Hanbei blocks the Takeda's escape path. Both he and Hanbei use their talents once more when Motonari raises an uprising at Kizugawa. They win the conflict, but Hanbei tires from the effort and soon collapses. Kanbei visits his bedside and Hanbei assures that he will always be the "light" for his friend. Hanbei eventually dies but Kanbei acts unaffected by the loss, stating that an obstacle in the path for peace has just been eliminated. Hideyoshi suppresses the Mōri family after the conflict, but Nobunaga is soon assassinated at Honnoji. At first, Hideyoshi denies his lord's death and doesn't seem intent to take action. However, Kanbei goads for Hideyoshi to take Nobunaga's ambition for himself as there are no other in the land who could stop him. Stating that the flames at Honnoji have merely opened the gates for Hideyoshi's ambitions, Kanbei's words convince Hideyoshi to march against Mitsuhide at Yamazaki. Though Hideyoshi achieves his dreams, he passes away due to illness and power shifts to Ieyasu's favor. Kanbei decides to serve Ieyasu for the land's peace and faces the Tachibana and Motochika at Ishigakibaru. Suppressing the Western army at Ishigakibaru, Kanbei is unimpressed by the remaining Toyotomi officers and sees their survival as the last "flame of chaos" that needs to be extinguished. He therefore continues to serve under Ieyasu during the siege of Osaka Castle, facing Kiyomasa in battle and defeats him. After Ieyasu's victory, Kanbei inspects Kiyomasa's body, states that the Toyotomi are now finished, and walks away. Kiyomasa, who was playing dead when Kanbei had his attention to him, uses the last of his strength to strike down the strategist. Although he tries to make a snide remark about Kiyomasa's effort, Kanbei figures that he possibly stands as the greatest threat to peace and accepts his fate to die with the rest of the Toyotomis. Warriors Orochi During the original timeline in Warriors Orochi 3, Kanbei worked together with Hanbei to defend Dongkou. Due to the confusion of forces which invade the area, he dies shortly after Hanbei leaves for Odawara Castle. A future Hanbei returns to save him from this fate. Joining the coalition of the future, Kanbei from then on follows Hanbei in his campaigns. Kanbei also appears in the downloadable scenario "Phantoms of Nanzhong" where he takes the lead of the rescue of Guo Huai. He forms a temporarily alliance with the demon Dodomeki since he appears to be the only one who does not believe Kanbei, Guo Huai, Zhou Tai and Kojirō to be phantoms. Kessen In Kessen, Kanbei is known under one of his other historical names, Josui. He is an ambitious and scheming war veteran who desires his own stake of power. In spite of his son's allegiance to Ieyasu, Josui acts as a sympathizer for the Toyotomi cause. After he tries to conquer Kyushu, he convinces Kiyomasa and several others to serve him. Should Mitsunari win at Sekigahara, Josui is an unpredictable ally of Ieyasu who could switch his loyalties at any time during the Battle of Fuji. Even if Mitsunari or Ieyasu win at Fuji, Josui does not appear again after the battle. Josui will act as the leading commander for the Toyotomi forces if Mitsunari is defeated at Sekigahara and leads the Western troops to counter Ieyasu's march at Harima. His independent and capricious mindset, however, continues to make him a distrustful ally to the remaining Toyotomi forces. Despite his previous claim that he would have no mercy on the field, Josui will retreat his army if they clash with his son. In both scenarios, whether he is victorious or defeated, he dies due to illness or battle wounds. For the latter scenario in the Toyotomi side, he pleads Yukimura to take his place before he passes away. A younger Kanbei returns in Kessen III. He voluntarily joins Hideyoshi w